At A2L Consulting, we have been providing trial technicians (also known as hot-seat operators) to help our clients display materials at trial since the 1990s. The role of a trial technician is a unique one. These men and women routinely work late nights during a trial to ensure that they are totally prepared for whatever can arise.
As we have said elsewhere on this blog, the ideal hot-seat operator must have a very close working relationship with the lead trial attorney and with the other team members, must have a calm demeanor in case he or she is called upon with no notice to provide something critical for the trial, and must have an understanding of the thousands of documents that will inevitably be involved in any trial. Most importantly, he or she must be able to make the trial presentation appear to be seamless and flawless.
We have seen instances in which opposing counsel, or their hot-seat operator, stumbled in one respect or another – and their credibility took a dive. We have written in articles like What a Great “Hot Seat Operator” Can Add to a Trial Team and 12 Tips to Hire the Right Trial Technician for Your Trial about the ideal qualities for a hot-seat operator. We've even released a free book on the topic called How To Find and Use Trial Technicians and Trial Technology. Click here to download it.
One thing that we perhaps have not discussed as much as we should is that a great hot-seat operator must, from the beginning, become totally conversant with the technology available in the specific courtroom in which he or she will be working. And there are substantial differences: Some courtrooms have expensive, built-in technology that is state of the art. Some will have excellent technology – if this were the year 2003. Some have no technology at all. It is the responsibility of the trial team, and of the hot-seat operator above all, to design an appropriate, modern technology set-up for the courtroom that will serve the paramount goal of persuading the jury.
Below we have prepared what should be a very useful directory of the technology available in the 90 federal district courts across the nation and we have linked to each of the courts’ websites.
If you browse through this directory, you will find that some courts offer detailed information about the technology that they house, all the way down to the name and location of each cable. Very often, the court’s website will include information about what technology from outside the courtroom you will be allowed to bring in for the purpose of supplementing what’s already there.
Some courts’ websites contain pictures of exactly what technology is available in the courtroom. But in some courts, there’s a need to actually file a motion with the court to ask the court to be specific about the use of technology. In some courts, there are audiovisual specialists who can assist the trial team with technology. A small minority of courts offer little or no information about courtroom technology. There, it’s a necessity to call the clerk’s office, which is, in any case, something that we advise everyone to do in every court.
Other articles related trial technicians, hot seaters, trial technology and effective trial presentation:
- What Does Using a Trial Technician or Hot-Seater Cost?
- Request Availability or Pricing of a Trial Technician, Trial Consultant or Trial Presentation Hot-Seat Operator
- What a Great “Hot Seat Operator” Can Add to a Trial Team
- Free E-Book Download: How to Find and Engage the Best Trial Technician
- Why Trial Tech ≠ Litigation Graphics
- Why Rapport Between a Trial Lawyer and a Trial Technician is So Important
- Will using a trial technician make me look too slick and high-tech?
- Practice, Say Jury Consultants, is Why Movie Lawyers Perform So Well
- A video of George Zimmerman's lawyers taking a do-it-yourself approach
- 12 ways to avoid a Superbowl-style tech failure
- See a video of a trial technician in action
- 12 Tips to Hire the Right Trial Technician for Your Trial
- 5 Trial Director Tips for great presentations
- 6 ways to use video depositions
- FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD: How To Create Persuasive Visual Presentations
- Practice, Say Jury Consultants, is Why Movie Lawyers Perform So Well
- Litigator & Litigation Consultant Value Added: A "Simple" Final Product
- Litigation Consultant: Embrace a Two-Track Strategy & Win the War
- 3 Ways to Force Yourself to Practice Your Trial Presentation
- Practice is a Crucial Piece of the Storytelling Puzzle
- 16 Trial Presentation Tips You Can Learn from Hollywood
- The Very Best Use of Coaches in Trial Preparation
- FREE WEBINAR: Using PowerPoint Litigation Graphics
- Sample One-Year Trial Prep Calendar for High Stakes Cases
- Request Availability or Pricing of a Trial Technician, Trial Consultant or Trial Presentation Hot-Seat Operator
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